Passing Notes
by writerkitty440
Summary: FRAXUS Mirajane sends a note to Freed via his teammates, but as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Struggling not to let his curiosity get the best of him, Laxus starts to think in ways that make him question the nature of his interest in Freed. With some unwanted guidance from Bickslow, he might just figure something out.
1. Chapter 1

The clock had yet to strike noon and it had already been a busy day at the guild. There'd been at least four fights and Natsu and Gray had been at it since before they'd even gotten there, the Master had intervened twice and Erza didn't seem to be getting a break. Then, just to make matters worse, a few minutes ago Gajeel had arrived.

Laxus grimaced and turned up his music. He could've easily gone over and beaten everyone who was annoying him to a pulp, but after that they'd still be whining. He'd already tried yelling at the idiots, and some warning zaps just to let off steam, but Natsu just wouldn't get the message. The noise wouldn't be so annoying normally, but it had been less than a day since Laxus and his team had returned from a ridiculously loud mission and he had a splitting headache.

Across the table, Evergreen clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on a fashion magazine. One hour, she'd been there. _One hour_ and she already wanted to start pulling her hair and go crazy. There had to be some sort of mute button. She'd talked Elfman into trying to calm things down but it had backfired when he joined in the ruckus.

"Aw, cheer up," Bickslow said warmly. Neither Laxus nor Evergreen took his advice.

"What the hell's taking Freed so long," Laxus groaned.

"Can't he just catch up to us later?" Evergreen asked exasperatedly.

Bickslow's babies took this as a cue to surround them and repeat after their master. "Cheer up," they all chanted, but it didn't seem to be helping.

From behind the bar, Mirajane looked quizzically at the Raijinshuu. They seemed so miserable. She would've liked to know what happened while they were away, but none of them would tell her. The only information she'd received was from Freed, and it seemed to be quite accidental.

"Are you sure you have time?" he'd asked, his cheeks turning pink.

"Of course," she'd told him. "You should see some of Elfman and Lissana's clothes after a fight!" She hadn't fully known what she was agreeing to.

He'd reached into his travel bag and pulled out one scrap of red fabric, then another, and what looked like two or three more, coming apart at the seams and all stained with something. "It's probably best if you don't know what happened to it…"

And the next day, having thoroughly studied the tears and ugly splotches of what looked like blood and ink, she didn't have a clue how she was ever going to fix it. It was going to be almost impossible, and that was why she was comfortable asking for such a big favor in return for repairing the mangled coat.

Laxus stood up. "I've had enough! Long as one of you knows where he lives we can go get him there!" It was a loud statement, so loud that even Mira could hear it in another part of the guild hall. _Better catch them before they're gone_, she thought, searching for a notepad.

Finding one in a drawer, she took a pen from a cup near the unfiled job requests and hurried over to catch the group before they left. "Wait a minute," she called after them.

They turned around in surprise. "Mira? What could you want," Laxus asked.

She smiled sweetly. "Nothing much, just a message passed on!" She tried to look really cute, to ensure that she couldn't be denied.

Laxus rolled his eyes. "Long as it doesn't get in our way," he offered exasperatedly.

Mira leaned over the table and started scribbling. "I heard you were going to Freed's place, so I thought you could give him a note in case he doesn't stop by here today," she explained, hoping none of the Raijinshuu would be nosy enough to read the message- it would really be embarrassing.

Laxus groaned, and Evergreen gave her a skeptical look. "Fine, we'll give it to him."

Mira breathed a sigh of relief and finished writing. "Good. Just make sure you don't lose it, it's very important." She folded it and held it out for someone to take.

Bickslow snatched the note and almost immediately started unfolding it. "No peeking," she reminded him. "It's not for you." He subsequently gave the paper an extra crease and tried to find a pocket to shove it in.

But before Bickslow could finish, Laxus ripped it out of his hand and started to leave. "Mind your own business," he said authoritatively. "Like you don't know enough about us all already," Evergreen chimed in, following him to the door.

"Are you sure I can't read it?" They were one block away from the guild, and it was already wearing thin on Laxus's nerves.

"Shut up!" he yelled, the futility dawning on him. Bickslow knew everyone's business, but he seemed to be almost like a specialist in Freed's. It was weird, in Laxus's opinion, that someone so well-meaning would be so relentlessly nosy.

"But it might be something important! And come on, it's not a secret unless-" Bickslow had been making up excuses since the minute Mira had looked away, but this was going to be the end of it.

"What? You're not _dating_ him, are you?" he shouted. From other parts of the street, a few heads turned.

"Bu- No… But-"

"But nothing! It doesn't concern you!" He looked down at Bickslow's confused face. Case point. It was over.

Next to them Evergreen rubbed her ears a little. She'd been keeping quiet for most of the walk. Knowing everything she did about both Freed _and_ Mira, she didn't think it was a matter for her to be concerned about. Her teammate was, well… not attracted to women, and although she may have resented it a little, she knew better than to be suspicious of his relationship with Mira. Neither one found the other appealing, and both were too nice to be menacing each other. Bickslow, on the other hand, seemed abnormally worried.

He sulked over, in disappointment, to Evergreen's side. "I just thought it would be something good, with the face she was making," he mumbled.

_Ugh. No!_ She thought. That was his favorite way of stirring stuff up and she did _not_ want to be in the middle of it. "I don't think it's anything we should be concerned about," she told him.

"Oh- No, I'm not worried," he started, the curiosity already worming its way into her brain. "I just noticed the aura while Mira was writing it and-"


	2. Chapter 2

"Do we go left or right here?" There was no response, from Bickslow or from Evergreen.

"I heard she has a thing for guys who…" "And that time when…" Whisper whisper whisper… They were at it again with the gossip.

"Alright, we go left then," he told them. It was like talking to air.

"Did you say something Laxus?" Evergreen asked, suddenly snapping out of a chatty trance.

Rounding the corner, he muttered something under his breath.

"Are we taking the scenic route?" She asked.

"It'd be quicker if we go the other way here," Bickslow pointed out, as if the matter hadn't been in question just a moment ago.

Laxus turned around and tried to think where the next turn would be. Behind him, his teammates couldn't help but notice as the folded piece of notepaper dropped from his pocket onto the sidewalk. Bickslow stared at it gleefully, like a kid in a candy shop waiting to see whether or not an exasperated Laxus would turn around to pick it back up. He didn't.

In a split second, Evergreen snatched up the paper and started to carefully open it. Although the exposed back of the paper was plain white, pulling apart the layers, a Valentine-y pink caught her eye. The printed side was pink and covered in hearts. She started to look at the text, but before she could figure out the handwriting, Bickslow broke her concentration by stealing the note.

She almost gave him a dirty look, but almost immediately after he had taken it, Laxus turned around. "The next turn's there, right?" He asked, pointing to an intersection ahead.

"Uh, no," she corrected him. "It's the next one."

"No, if we go left up here it's a shortcut," Bickslow interjected.

"Okay, should we take it?" While Laxus waited for an answer he noticed something clasped in Bickslow's hand. Suspicious, he checked his pocket.

"Will you stop this shit about the note," he yelled, once again seizing the tiny, pink paper. "It's none of our business what Freed does with Mira!" Before he'd said it, he had meant it, but once it came out, he realized what questions he was refusing to find the answers to. _What would Freed be doing with the most adored swimsuit model in the guild?_

Bickslow noticed the quick disruption in his stern facial expression. The way he saw it, he would have that message before they even found the right street.

As luck would have it, he didn't, and after a fair amount of badgering and begging, he still hadn't been able to persuade Laxus to give him the note as they stood at Freed's door, ringing the bell. He had, however, been able to wear him down almost to that point by targeting topics that seemed to really get to his leader- _"Do you think they might be dating?" "I think she really likes him." "Maybe it's something about that time they went to…"_ On and on he'd droned, always watching for that break in concentration, the twitch, the slight grimace that showed he was striking a nerve.

The door opened and before anyone could even say "hi", Laxus was cramming the note in Freed's hand explaining awkwardly how it had come from Mira and kept getting "lost". He accepted it, dumbstruck and stuttering, while Evergreen looked on, wide-eyed, trying not to giggle. Given such an amusing distraction, any one of them could've overlooked most anything until Bickslow, keeping his eye on the prize, called them back to reality.

"So what do you think she wants to talk about?" As he asked the question, both Evergreen and Laxus turned in surprise.

"Rude," they said in unison, but Freed seemed unfazed.

"Oh, no harm done. She has my coat," he explained casually.

Bickslow grinned, knowing he could use that later on; _"He gave her his coat. What do you think that means?"_ Laxus's reaction was something he rather looked forward to.

"Sorry I'm running a bit late, the alarm on my clock isn't working."

Laxus patted Freed on the top of the head just a little too hard. He faked a smile and tried not to express discomfort. "I'll be ready in a minute. Is anyone bringing sun block already?"

Laxus and Bickslow looked at Freed for a moment, and then at Evergreen. Ever had been carrying a beach bag all day long, and Freed had probably been packing one before they arrived. They'd been planning to go swimming in a quiet little pond they'd discovered in the woods just outside of the city. Evergreen rolled her eyes at them.

"I'm working on a tan," she said. "So I didn't need to pack sunscreen. And I presume these two are skinny-dipping, so it probably never occurred to them." She motioned to her unprepared comrades, smirking.

This caught Laxus completely off guard. He didn't even know how to respond, but Bickslow laughed and made an awkward suggestion. "That's right. We were hoping you'd join us!" He motioned to Freed, who had been smiling until he heard _that_.

"Right Laxus?" he added, snickering. Freed blushed and ran to finish packing. Laxus flinched and opened his mouth to yell, but before he could, Evergreen slapped both him and Bickslow.

"No! You idiots run along home and get your swimsuits this instant!" She shouted. "You can meet us at the lake when you've found them!"

And they did exactly that.


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you sure you don't wanna try skinny-dipping?" Bickslow asked his increasingly irritated companion.

"Are _you_ sure you wanna make it there in one piece?" Laxus gritted his teeth and tried to look intimidating. They'd both retrieved the necessary clothing and were near the entrance to the woods, already fairly certain they would _not_ be swimming naked. The thought alone made the dragon-slayer uncomfortable, but after Bickslow had made it so awkward getting Freed involved… He interrupted his own thoughts, realizing they were about to go someplace he didn't care to follow and tried to focus on the present rather than the past or future.

"But aren't you jealous?" For once, Bickslow seemed genuinely surprised by Laxus's lack of interest in the conversation.

Laxus wrapped his hands around the straps of his bag and clenched the fabric. "I'm not playing this game with you Bix. I don't know what you're asking me and I don't care!"

Bickslow stopped for a moment to consider his options, watching Laxus stomp on ahead. There was clearly _something_ bothering him, but was it really possible that he didn't even know what? Maybe it was time to take a more direct approach and see if it calmed him down any.

"Then you don't care if Mira is dating-"

"No!" Laxus cut him off.

"And you don't have a crush on any-"

"No! What the hell?"

Bickslow cocked his head and tried to get a good look at everything going on in Laxus's soul again. It was all so obvious, right there in front of him, but it was becoming apparent that Laxus had never been one for soul-searching. Somehow, it seemed after all of those years, he hadn't even figured out his own emotions.

"I'm sorry. I misunderstand people sometimes because of my magic, but I really thought I was helping you," he explained.

Laxus looked like he was about ready to blow a fuse, but instead, he turned his nose up and went on ahead, refusing to look back. He could still hear Bickslow somewhere behind, trying to say things that he would just filter out, letting all become an annoying little buzz in his ears. It had seemed weird before, but the explanation had been the last straw. _Talking crazy…_ he thought. _Little freak probably does this to everyone._

Despite this reassurance however, the seeds had been planted in Laxus's mind. It didn't bother him to the point where he would ask, but the curiosity was creeping. _"She has my coat."_ he remembered Freed telling him. He refused to think it was because of Bickslow's teasing, but it was starting to get on his nerves that he didn't know why. _Did he leave it after something? What kind of-_ He didn't want to let his imagination run off with it. So Mira had Freed's coat. What of it? It shouldn't have even affected him to begin with, and what had Bickslow meant, _"Aren't you jealous?"_ He wasn't. Why would he be jealous of his friend hanging out with a hot chick? Not like he couldn't too… But about that hot chick hanging out with his friend- why was it making him so grumpy?

After a long, silent trek, Laxus and Bickslow reached their destination. Freed and Evergreen had apparently been waiting, sitting on a boulder with their bags, not yet changed. "Speak of the devil," they could hear Freed exclaim.

Laxus waved and let Bickslow run ahead of him to greet them. Evergreen started to take off her dress, revealing a bikini underneath, and Freed picked up his backpack and slid behind the rock. Bickslow almost instinctively leaned over the edge to harass him, and they started to argue.

Laxus wondered if he should go intervene. It was obvious Freed wasn't comfortable with the situation, and with all the wacky shit Bickslow had been doing that day, some boundaries might be easily crossed. There was an extra-loud shout as two of Bickslow's souls flew up, pulling on the side of a tiny, black swimsuit. _Time to go._

But within the next second, a white boot made an impact with Bickslow's head. The spirits released the garment and their master backed off. "Alright, be a stiff then," he called, walking back toward Laxus.

Upon arrival, he patted his shoulder. "I'm weird, not creepy! I know when to stop." Laxus raised an eyebrow. "But maybe he'd like it if you stood watch!" Bickslow laughed and went to talk to Evergreen as Laxus shot off a spark or two.

Exactly what made Bickslow's teasing so annoying that particular day, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was because he was already grumpy, or because nothing good had happened since he got up that morning, but there was something else bugging him about it. He just couldn't put his finger on what, so he would have to do his best not to dwell on it. After all, it was supposed to be a fun, relaxing activity to help everyone unwind… himself included.

"I brought a beach ball," Evergreen announced, removing a piece of floppy plastic from her bag.

A few minutes later, four mages were in the water, playing with a beach ball and splashing each other.


	4. Chapter 4

"Stop that and give me the ball!" Evergreen latched onto Bickslow's back, reaching around to try to get her ball back. Bickslow passed it to Freed, his accomplice for the last ten minutes or so.

"Real mature guys," Laxus commented, intercepting the pass.

"Thanks! Over here," Evergreen called, ditching Bickslow for open water.

Laxus grinned and held it up to throw it.

"No, give it to me," Bickslow called, waving his arms around. Freed followed suit. "I'm open!"

There was no need to make a decision though; Laxus had only gotten involved to bother Bixlow, but as he let go of the ball, it flew directly up and away from Evergreen. "That's cheating," she called, beginning to chase Bickslow's spirit toward the other end of the pond.

"Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we tried to play a real game," Laxus mused, watching a tooth-and-nail battle begin a few yards away in the water. It was intended as a rhetorical question, but even the thought of the possible answers made it difficult to leave it at that.

"It would get really painful," Freed answered with gloomy certainty.

Laxus stared for a moment, unsure how to respond. "Uh, you think so? 'Cause then there'd be rules…"

Freed just gave a dead glance to the water and sank down a few inches. "Maybe. We can try it if you want." They'd tried multiple times in the past and it had always ended badly, but Laxus didn't remember. He just hadn't cared back then.

Laxus agreed and sank down to where Freed was. "We're too competitive for that, aren't we?" he asked.

Freed gave him a big fake smile. "Yeah, it looks that way!" Then, there was a long, awkward silence.

Although they'd known each other for several years, they'd never really developed a close relationship. Freed had followed Laxus around like a very loyal mosquito, and Laxus, at first, had done his best to swat him away and brush him off. That had turned into something like a normal relationship once or twice, but never quite, and it was always getting messed up. For that reason, even after such a long time, they still didn't always know what to say to each other. There was a bond of some kind, and a strong one too, but a weird one.

"I heard you started hanging out with Mira." Laxus tried to end the silence. "…While I was gone. Right?"

Freed seemed to lighten up a bit. "Yes. She's very kind."

The last few words echoed a little in Laxus' head. He didn't like them and they wouldn't go away. "Well that's good. She acts like a demon when I'm around!" It was true, to a certain extent. She didn't act like she was particularly fond of him, but she hadn't openly disapproved since before he'd been reaccepted into the guild.

In the distance, there was yelling and splashing. Evergreen had reclaimed the ball, but the fighting continued. Freed ignored the commotion and continued the conversation. "She does that to people she cares about. We should invite her on an outing like this sometime."

This was confusing to Laxus. He'd just established that he didn't get along with Mirajane, and in response, Freed had defended her and suggested that they bring her along next time. It seemed out of character for his most obsessive fan to confront him like that. "She's never been into this kind of thing." He didn't want to exclude her, but he didn't want to compete with her for influence over his friends- not any more than he apparently already had to.

"I think she is. She took me to the beach with her siblings once and we both loved it." Freed smiled, this time genuinely. Noticing the look on Laxus' face, he added a quick excuse. "Perhaps she let you think otherwise because she felt intimidated by your greatness."

"Drop it," Laxus commanded. "She's not coming with us."

He watched as Freed's gaze tipped back down and the silence began to settle in again. _Maybe they are dating_, he thought. The thought resounded with a lot of hostility, but over what? He wasn't quite sure. He wondered if more information might help put his mind at ease; but then again, it wasn't his business and it shouldn't have bothered him anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Time wore on until slowly but surely; everyone got cold or bored, then dried off and put their clothes back on. Laxus had come close to asking more than a few awkward questions, but he'd managed to control himself enough to avoid actually doing so. He had not, however, avoided an arranged walk-in on Freed in his underpants (courtesy of Bickslow) and a number of inappropriate jokes that made both of them redder than Evergreen's sunburn.

On the walk back Bickslow and Evergreen had broken away from the group at different points along the way, leaving only Freed and Laxus in spells of fanfare and silence until they would part ways at Laxus' apartment.

"Don't you want to talk about something besides me?" Laxus asked before Freed could start talking again.

Freed was quiet in response, unable to think of anything else to say. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and started to walk closer and closer to Laxus until their shoulders touched. Laxus scowled and slumped over, but didn't resist.

"I was thinking, maybe we could bring Mirajane with us someplace…" He offered one final chance for Freed to pick up a conversation with him.

Freed smiled and leaned farther into Laxus' side. "Really? I'm so glad you reconsidered!" He wrapped his fingers around a clenched fist and tried to look grateful.

Laxus took a step in the same direction to try to break free. It didn't work, but it put a little more space between them. "I just wondered, before I agree to this- What's your relationship with her?"

Freed stared at him, confused. "Uh, what?"

Laxus inadvertently pulled away from him, and this time, Freed let go. "Like, 'friends' or 'boyfriend-girlfriend' or if she's just… I dunno. How do you… Eh… The way you know each other!"

Freed twisted his body away from Laxus, for once getting the message that he didn't want to be touched. "Um, good friends." He took a quick glance at Laxus before looking at the ground. "She reached out to me while you were… away… and she helped me… work through some stuff. Maybe, you might say, she's like a sister."

Whatever it was that had come over Laxus earlier, the feeling began to slip out like air from a balloon. It wasn't a matter of competing with Freed's girlfriend for attention anymore, but he started to realize it was something much less superficial. A bit of insecurity in Freed's voice made him feel guilty for ever having thought such a thing. He leaned in closer to Freed this time. "Would it be nosy to check if this 'stuff' was my-"

Freed interrupted him. "No! It's not… It was just some- eh- things that happened… before we even met. I should've gotten over it before the whole thing at the festival really."

Laxus took his hand and pulled him back over. "Good enough for me!" he said cheerily. Then, he took a more somber tone. "And you know, I'm really sorry about that…"

Freed put his head against Laxus' neck. "You were confused."

Laxus tipped his head down to get closer to Freed. "But it's not okay. I was way out of line, and I hurt all the people I love and…" He put down his bag and gave Freed a big hug. "I don't even know everything I did to you… And I'm sorry for putting you through it."

Freed wrapped his arms around Laxus' waist and buried his face at the base of his neck. It was the best way he knew to accept the apology, and it brought him closer to one of the people he loved. While it lasted, the hug was warm and sweet and although it was out of the ordinary, to both of them, it felt exactly right.

Even when Laxus let go and picked up his bag again, Freed kept grabbing his hand and leaning on him, then stumbling away like a clumsy drunkard before repeating the process. They walked the rest of the way to the city like that- hand in hand, one of them seemingly drugged. When they started to find busy streets they had to stop acting goofy, but they were still in each others' good graces when they said their farewells and split up.

**Author's Note: The next chapter should be the last. Hope you've enjoyed the story so far :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Three weeks later, Mira handed Freed his coat near the entrance to the guild. "Now you have to tell me what happened to it," she said with a smile.

He sighed. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

She nodded and waited for his response. "It turns out Screecher Chimeras have ink glands in their mouths. They spit it on their prey to help it go down their throats more easily, and Bickslow and I almost… Well, it was bad…"

Mira giggled, remembering how hard it had been to get all of the stains out. "You two were almost monster food," she teased.

"Nowhere close!" Freed corrected her. "We almost got stuck in the middle of their nesting grounds, not 'almost got eaten!'"

She laughed more and patted him on the head. "Okay! Your secret's safe with me!" She would've left it at that, but seeing his face, she just had to give him one final pat and add, "Screecher bait."

Near the other end of the room, Laxus sat at a table with Evergreen and waited for Bickslow to get back from an unexplained, quick trip. For a while, he could've sworn they'd been planning something, and the way they'd been giggling before Bickslow left was borderline ominous.

"There's something really cool in this magazine about us," Bickslow exclaimed, sneaking up behind him. The magazine in question was open to a lingerie ad and a picture of Mirajane.

"Um, Bix? I don't think that's-"

Bickslow immediately flipped the page to a two-page spread titled "Sexy Beach Boys". Laxus jumped, startled, while his teammates laughed. "What the-? How does-? This has got nothing to do with us!"

Evergreen tried to stop laughing while she pointed to a picture on the far left. "Maybe not _us_…"

Laxus looked at the picture she'd pointed to. The moment he realized what it was, he closed his eyes and turned away. "Aw, no! Why?"

The two pages showed a picture of a number of young, attractive men on a beach, all trying to pose in ways that would entertain a reader who presumably thought they were hot. The image Evergreen had pointed to featured two scantily-clad surfers and a sketchy-looking lifeguard with long green hair, none other than Freed Justine.

Bickslow waved the magazine in front of Laxus' face. "It's what that note was about!"

While Laxus dodged the inappropriate periodical, and Bickslow continued to wave it around, Evergreen provided further explanation. "The magazine only had contracts with women at first, so they offered a bonus to anyone who brought in male models!"

"You don't like it?" Bickslow joked. "But our little buddy's finally branching out and doing things outside his comfort zone! You should really go congratulate him!" Laxus started trying to slap the magazine down, and things continued in a similar manner until Freed caught a glimpse of what they were doing.

"Don't pick on Laxus," he called, running over.

Bickslow immediately stopped and held the picture up where Freed could see. "I'm not! He says he likes it!"

Laxus hit his shoulder and yelled back, "I did not!"

Recognizing the picture, Freed froze up and blushed.

"That is one good-looking lifeguard, right Ever?" Bickslow turned to Evergreen for help.

"Oh yeah, my boyfriend's gonna be jealous." She looked smug until she realized what she'd implied. "Or he would if I had one, which I don't."

Freed lunged for the magazine, but Bickslow passed it off to one of his souls, which took off with it. "Fly baby, fly," he shouted after it, and it kept flying until, much to Freed's dismay, everyone in the guild had seen the embarrassing picture.

Mira felt a little guilty, knowing something her friend had done for her was causing him so much trouble; but when she considered trying to comfort him, she realized that finally, Laxus had taken some initiative and was already doing it. Apparently the easiest way to a man's heart was not through his stomach after all, but through a sleazy picture in a dirty magazine.

The End


End file.
